This relates generally to imaging systems, and more particularly, to optical accelerometers.
Accelerometers based on semiconductor technology such as piezoelectric technologies or strain gauge technologies are often used for measuring the acceleration of an object such as an electronic device. Accelerometers are also sometimes used to determine the orientation of an electronic device in a gravitational field. For example, accelerometers are commonly included in mobile phones and tablet computers for determining the orientation of the device with respect to the Earth's gravitational field.
Conventional accelerometers of this type can have relatively small ranges of acceleration measurement. Multiple sensors are therefore often necessary to cover large range applications. In addition, these sensors can be affected by electrical and magnetic fields that are separate from the physical acceleration and orientation of the sensor platform, resulting in low quality measurements.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved accelerometers.